On Our Radar

On Our Radar

Best And Worst ETFs Of The Week Amid Summer Send-Off

The markets managed to finally hurdle the psychologically significant 2,000 mark in the S&P 500 Index this week. The broad large-cap index remained largely flat, however, after Mondays strong leap forward.

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As a result, traders are digesting both technical data and geopolitical headlines to divine any clues about the next move in stocks.

The following ETFs represent a sample of the best and worst performing funds over the last five trading sessions.

BEST: Coffee Prices

Caffeine lovers received a jolt from the price of coffee this week as the iPath DJ-UBS Coffee Sub Index ETN (JO) and iPath Pure Beta Coffee ETN (CAFE) both rose more than seven percent.

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Both ETFs are designed to provide unleveraged access to investments in coffee futures contracts through a liquid investment vehicle. Despite being from the same fund company, both ETNs offer similar access to this widely traded commodity and charge an expense ratio of 0.75 percent.

Coffee futures have been on fire this year, with JO posting a gain of 75 percent and CAFE jumping 70 percent so far in 2014. This ramp has largely been fueled by drought conditions in Central and South America that is jeopardizing global coffee production.

Lack of water leads to unfavorable growing conditions for this recent crop, which may hit coffee lovers hard through the remainder of the year.

WORST: Russian Stocks

On the flip side, the Market Vectors Russia ETF (RSX) fell more than four percent this week as international tensions flared once again. The latest geopolitical conflict involves escalating concern over Russia openly invading Ukraine with troops massed on its borders. Such a move would likely lead to western powers having to intervene and roil foreign markets further.

RSX is the largest ETF dedicated to Russian stocks, with $1.7 billion in total assets invested in 49 equity holdings. This fund has been on a roller coaster ride this year with breaking headlines leading to bouts of selling and subsequent recovery.

Another ETF closely tied to this space that also dropped this week is the Market Vectors Russia Small Cap ETF (RSXJ).

Chances are that these two distinct asset classes will not go away soon, as summer winds down and a new season approaches.